The last couple of days haven't exactly been choc ca-block with activities, but I've still been seeing new things, and experiencing new unfamiliar surroundings on an almost daily basis.
It's difficult so state intently after such a short period of time that I have "settled" into Singapore, but I am most certainly comfortable with my current state of being in South East Asia!
Both yesterday and today I have been spending my time "working". I use the term loosely because coaching for a couple of hours on Thursday and Friday barely counts.
Yesterday I spent the morning on the computer replying to the messages and emails that very kind and generous people back home had been sending me, before planning an activity for an afternoon session of coaching.
The first port of call was at Sembawang Secondary school which is viewable from my window, and about a two minute walk away. On the way there James (the head of English Soccer School) explained his philosophy on football and explained how the company hopes to develop in the future.
The kids we were working with first of all were teenagers from the school who had chosen to do football an extra-curricular activity during school time. From that I can tell there were plenty of other activities going on at the same time, but some privileged kids were about to get a taste of Yorkshire-style football knowledge whether they liked it or not!
We had some dinner before starting, a strange mix of Rogan Josh with rice AND noodles before beginning our session.
Just a side note to mention that as in Korea, portion control is definitely not a consideration that the Singaporean culture has taken in! For the measly sum of $2 (£1) I had more than enough food for two people, and a drink! I thought it was meant to be expensive here!!!
The session we coached was enjoyable. The kids warmed themselves up and then we headed into a drill about passing and controlling, before working on some dribbling with the ball and finishing off with a game. Fortunately enough the way we split the teams up, there was uneven sides so I volunteered to play!
As you can imagine, the heat was pretty ridiculous, and the game (by me anyway) wasn't played at a very quick pace! Sweat isn't the way to look good I don't think!
After the session we took a walk back discussing a few ideas, about what I will be doing while I am here. Despite not actually doing that much, the middle of the afternoon heat had clearly got to me, and it was time to conduct the second of a now routinely taken post-coaching shower to revive myself a little! It's amazing how warm it actually is here (I suppose not because it's just above the equator, but bear with me.) Perhaps it's coming over from the UK which admittedly has been warm recently, but in all honesty, not a patch on what Singapore has had to offer in the last three days. The surprising thing is, I don't even think I have seen the sun it.
A three-day watch tan! It looks slightly better after being in the shower, but still, I'm going to come back with that as proof that I've been as close to the centre of the world than I have ever been before.
Yesterday evening was spent mostly working on a few session plans an brainstorming a few ideas with James.
He hopes to pretty much conduct global domination.... only joking if you're reading James.....!!! Without giving too many details away he's looking to open up an Elite Football Academy along the lines of several European models which have been successful to pick out the 'cream of the crop' in terms of Singaporean football. He also wants to create a website for the Asian market and then develop the soccer schools that he has in Asia including Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei and Indonesia.
We've been attempting to come up with a name for this academy but so far come up blank, so if you have any ideas and you want to score me some points while I'm out here then feel free to leave me some points (As much as the Ben Small Academy of Football sounds good in my head, probably isn't going to attract too many people in!)
Today has really been more of the same in terms of work in the evening, I have a couple of files to work on to do with the academy and also James put me in charge of deciding what equipment we might need to use. I've also got to come up with some ideas for sections on the football based Asian website so I have been doing that.
This morning was an early one though as we were working at a secondary school called Henderson which is in and around the Orchard area of Singapore. For those of you who haven't done your research, Orchard area of the country, it is a shoppers paradise (interested now aren't you?!) Not that Singapore isn't a shopaholic's dream anyway, but this is the place to be in terms of shopping malls at the centre of the country!
Anyway, from there we went to the school where we were coaching two sets of girls. I found that a good challenge actually, having very little experience coaching the female species. And I must confess that they took in the information that we were giving them, much better than the boys that I have come into contact with in the past. We finished our session off with a game, which again brought uneven numbers, and meant that I had to be an honorary 13-year-old girl!
After our session we traveled back to Sembawang for some more planning and coaching talk before dinner. James had very kindly brought us some dinner when we were out earlier on so it was just a case of heating it up and tucking into some chicken and rice with potatoes and some extremely spicy sauce!
This evening I met one of the other coaches, Matty, who is originally from Malaysia, but has been in Singapore almost all his life. The four of us, including my current room mate Abdul, sat and watched some television before I decided to take a break from screens and monitors and take a trip out for some fresh air.
I walked into the Sun Plaza building where I had eaten out on the first night, and enjoyed the fruits of air conditioning for a little while!
I also went into a little library that they had at the top floor of the building and had a look around for some holiday reading material! Not that I don't have enough to do already, but, you know!
Tomorrow hopefully holds in store some more coaching in the morning (love a good 6am get up) and when we get done for 10.30am I will have a little explore around some more of the island. Not exactly sure where I plan to head yet. Perhaps to Orchard for some window shopping retail therapy or maybe to Marina Bay which is the most famous part of Singapore or even over to Sentosa which is the home of the beach and also Universal Studios!
The first three days here in Singapore really have flown by, and although I have been doing my best to retain as much as possible I've been so busy taking everything in that it is often a struggle to be able to get down exactly how I am feeling when typing out my blog.
I have enjoyed my time here so far, I like the culture, partly because it reminds me of my former Asian home, and also because of how comfortable I have been made to feel already.
I hope to get some exploring done so I can see a bit more of the familiar Singapore skyline with the famous Merlion structure or their version of the London Eye, but I am more than contented with what I have been able to get out of the trip so far!
Time for me to end this latest exploration into my South East Asia journey, hopefully I will be able to post plenty more in the coming days after some exciting events occur!
Clarence: Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?
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